Billfolder, purse, etc.



Oct. 31, 1933. JACOBSEN 1,933,115

BILLFOLDER, PURSE, ETC

Filed Dec. 17, 1931 INVENTOR Aman Jacobscn BY ATTom/ a" i Patented Get. 31, 1933 UNITED STATES BILLFOLDER, PURSE, ETC.

Anton Jacobsen, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Application December 17, 1931 Serial No. 581,532

4 Claims. (01. 15038) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in means for securely closing or locking billfolds, purses and ladies bags, and has for its object to provide a selfclosinglock for dif- Y ferent applications, but in particular for use in the above respect.

Thus the purpose of this invention is in particular to providea new and improved lock to be applied in connection with the above and similar articles, which lock determines the place of the fold at the said article, and which automatically closes and locks the said article, as soon as the user has bent the billiold or purse or flap of the bag up to a certain critical position. But it is further the object of the invention, to provide a lock of the said character, in which these automatic closing and locking means are made inoperative if the billfold, bag or the like is opened completely or more than up to the aforesaid critical position.

I attain the said objects of the invention by the arrangement within the cover of the billtold, purse, bag or the like of a hinge in combination with a spring, which spring cooperates with one of the sleeves of the said hinge.

In order to make the invention perfectly clear, I shall proceed now to describe two preferred embodiments of the same in application to a billfold, reference being made to the drawing, showing the said two embodiments, in which drawing:

Figures 1 and 2 are two blanks of sheet metal, cut in shape to be formed into a hinge.

Figures 3 and 4 are the same sheet metalblanks after they have been bent to form the two halves of the hinge.

Figure 5 is the pivot of the hinge.

Figures 6 and 6a show a metallic leaf-spring,

which co-operates with the hinge.

Figures '7, 8 and 9 show the aforesaid parts combined so as to form the selfclosing lock, whereby this look is shown in fully opened, partly closed and completely closed position, respectively.

Figure 10 is a plan view of a billfold provided with my selfclosing lock and shown in fully opened position.

Figure 11 is a perspective side view of the billfold in slightly bent or folded position.

Figure 12 shows another embodiment of the self-closing look.

In order to form a self-closing lock for the first embodiment of my invention, two blanks 21 and 22, as shown in the Figures 1 and 2, are cut or f, stamped out of a metal sheet, in which blanks the flaps 23, 24, starting from the dotted linesv 25, 26v

are to be bent, so as to form the two. sleeves 27,28 of ahinge, as shown in the following figures. The flap 24 or sleeve 28 is provided with a jagged point. or tooth29, whereas into'the sleeve 27 two holes 30 are drilled. Figure 5. shows the turning pivot or pin 31 of the hinge, which, for the sake of con venience in handling it, is provided witha broad-v ened head 32, and which pin has further two transversal holes 33, corresponding to the holes 30 of the sleeve 27. A narrow strip 34 is cut out of a flexible sheet of steel, and has according to Figure. 1

6 a nose at its one end and two. holes 36 at its other end; then this steel-strip is twisted 180. degrees, as shown in Figure 6a, which twist gives to. it the greater elasticity as a spring, to co-operate with the sleeve 28 of the hinge. The leaf -spring 34 I is riveted to the blank 21, as shown in Figure 3.

The different partsare then united, as shown in Figure '7, in such a manner, that the nose 35 of the leaf-spring 34 bears against the inner front of the sleeve 28. In the drawings I have shown the parts with small distances between the sleeve 28 and the spring-nose 35 at the one side and the pivot-head 32 at the other side, which I have shown in this manner for the sake of the clarity of the illustration; but in the construction as made in reality the different parts bear closely against one another with slight pressure, and they are further secured in such pressure-position by embedding them into the cardboard or leather-covers of the billfold or other article.

If with such arrangement of the parts the two halves of the lock are swung together from the position of Figure 7 through'the position of Fig ure 8 to the position of Figure 9, then the posi tion of the spring nose 35 changes to the effect that the latter must ascend the tooth 29, whereby the spring-leaf 34 is tensioned, so that at the criticalposition, when the nose 35 passes over the top of the tooth 29, the nose 35 forces its way along the other incline of the tooth downwardly, thus closing the hinge automatically. The Figures 18 and 11 show diagrammatically how the two halves 21, 22 of the hinge are embedded into the outer cover 36 of the billfold, or other article, which cover may be made of cardboard, leather, cloth, or any other convenient material.

In the second embodiment of my invention, shown in Figure 12, the two wings of the lock with the sleeves, the tooth at the one sleeve, and the pivot-pin, are of .the same construction as in the first example. However, there is no leafspring, but a coiled spring 3'7 is inserted between the two sleeves, which coiled spring being fastened to the one sleeve 27 co-operates with the inner front and with the tooth 29 of the other sleeve 28 in the same manner as it was described in the first example.

It is understood, that I do not limit myself to the details of the shown two embodiments, but I reserve the right to any and all other variations within the inventive idea, as laid down in the following claims:

I claim:

1. A self-closing folding device for billfolds, and the like, comprising in combination a continuous cover adapted to be bent in a fold along a transversal middle-line, a two-winged hinge fixed to the said cover with the hinge-sleeves extending in the said middle-line and with the opposing inner faces of the hinge-sleeves arranged at some distance from each other, a hinge pivot, a spring fixed with its one end on one half of the hinge and extending with its other free end into the free space between the said sleeves and cooperating with the sleeve of the other half of the hinge for securing the folder in its closed position.

2. A self-closing folding-device for billfolds, and the like, comprising in combination a continuous cover adapted to be bent in a fold along a transversal "middle-line, a two-winged hinge fixed to the said cover with its two coaxially arranged hinge-sleeves extending in the said middle-line and ending at some distance from each other, a hinge pivot, a tooth-like projection at the inner face of the one hinge-sleeve, and a spring fastened with its one end at the other half of the hinge and pressing with its other free and resilient end against the aforesaid sleeve-face with the tooth-like projection.

3. A self-closing folding-device for billfolds, and the like, comprising in combination a coin tinuous cover adapted to be bent in a fold along a transversal center line, a two-winged hinge fixed to the said cover with its two coaxially arranged hinge-sleeves extending in the middle line and ending at a distance from each other, a hinge pivot, a tooth-like projection at the inner face of the one hinge-sleeve, a leaf-spring fastened with its one end at the wing of the other half of the hinge and extending with its resilient end into the free space between the two hinge-sleeves, and a nose at the free end of the leaf-spring, the said nose pressing against the aforesaid sleeveface with the tooth-like projection.

4. A self-closing folding-device for billfolds, and the like, comprising in combination a twowinged hinge having the coaxial sleeves of the said two hinge-wings ending with their two opposing sleeve-faces at a distance from each other, a hinge-pivot extending through the two hinge sleeves and being fixed with its one end in the one sleeve and having a broader pivot-head outside of the other sleeve, to limit the axial distance of the two opposing sleevefaces, a tooth-like projection at the inner sleeve-face of the one half hinge-part, a leaf-spring fastened with its one end at the wing of the other half hinge-part and extending with its resilient end into the free space between the two hinge-sleeves, a nose at the free end of the leaf-spring, the said nose pressing against the aforesaid inner sleeve-face with the tooth-like projection, and a continuous cover embedding all the aforesaid elements and adapted to be bent in a fold along a transversal middle-line in the axis of the hinge-pivot.

ANTON JACOBSEN. 

